Getting my Creative Groove Back

Gosh, I went out of town for one week and since I got back I have had a hard time getting back into my creating. I still have some catching up to do from the end of my Artful Pages class and this week have been working on a new Collage Club assignment.  This one was about doing some layered backgrounds with vintage colors and patterns. While I was visiting my family in Pittsburgh I dug through more of my parent's old pictures. I have been using my digital camera to take photos of the photos so I could use them right away on my family tree on Ancestry.com. I'm enjoying using them in my collages too. This first one is using photos of my Great Aunt Genevieve. She was born in 1909 and later became a nurse in the army, serving during WWII .

Her parents were Frank and Rose Norwood and I added them to the next layered background. 

Before I went away I was working on an altered book. This was from a section of the Artful Pages class taught by Lenna Young Andrews. I bought this cute book from a thrift shop.

Next I cut out many of the pages so I would have room to add stuff.

Then I made some fun backgounds by painting them or gluing other paper on them. I don't really like my painted pages but I really like two of the pages I did with paper backgrounds. This first one was made by using strips I tore from the inside of security envelopes. You'd be surprised how many lovely patterns are inside those darn bills. At least they are good for something. Teehee! I added a picture of the house I grew up in and where my mom still lives. It looks much different now. I also love that song by Miranda Lambert "The House That Built Me."  I get a lump in my throat every time I hear it.

The other one I like was made by scanning a dress that my grandmother made and then printing it to make a pretty patterned paper. Of course I added pics of my grandmother and grandfather on top. I actually found a picture of her wearing the dress after I made this. That was cool to find. The quality of the picture isn't very good so I am not adding that.

Lots more projects to work on so I better get my groove back!

Whoo Whoo

Check out these adorable owls! Some of my sewing students made these cuties. I got the pattern from The DIY Dish and my girls had a blast making them.

Still loving my Artful Pages class! It is week 3 of 4 and this week I am learning how to make an altered book from Lenna Young Andrews. I'll show some of that soon but here is another page from my journal from week 2 with Hope Wallace Karney. It has places for hiding secrets. There is a pocket on the left and the little page in the middle is hiding secrets behind it. Don't you wish you read them?  Ha! This was fun to make!

March Collage Challenge

It's the beginning of a new month which means another fun collage challenge from Mary at Green Paper. In case you forget, I have to create a piece of art using at least part of each of the three images that are provided. I used up a lot of printer ink trying to find the right background and ended up using a piece I already had. Argh! Oh well, hopefully the other backgrounds will be right for another project someday. I used the floral part of the holy card to decorate her dress and hat. I then used the names on the bank advertisement to make a plaque on the door of the office she is visiting. I also had to cut off the blade of her ice skates to give her regular boots. So here is my entry and you can check here to see what everyone else made. I can't wait to look now that I'm done!

Weekend of Collaging

I decided to redo my collage with the bathing beauty. I did this in my small gluebook. Each page is is only 3 1/2 inches by 5 1/2.  The larger book that the other collages are in is 5 by 8 1/4. I like this one much better.

I also made an opposite page for the one I made last week. I used the cat as the focus. I like all these colors together.

Yesterday I worked on an art journal lesson taught by Hope Wallace Karney. I'm not as comfortable with journaling as I am with collage. I don't like my lettering so I think it looks like a child made it. Here  it is though. Hopefully I will get better at it.

 

More Gluebook

I'm loving my Artful Pages classes! Today I finished two more gluebook lessons. I really enjoy working on it but sometimes it takes me a while to find the images I want to use. I don't know how other people do creative projects but I often think of an idea and then can't find materials to complete my idea. It would be better if I used what I already had creatively but that would be too simple. I guess that's my inner need to make things as complex as I can.  This first collage is the one I struggled with the most. I kept trying to find something for her to sit on or just be grounded on but nothing worked so I am leaving her like this. I posted her to our flickr group and I hope the other artists will give me some ideas about it.  

In this next collage I started with the background time table that I thought was cool. (since it says Pittsburgh on it)  I also wondered if I needed more elements but the words on the pages seemed to be enough.

 I loved learning from Mary Green about the gluebooks and tomorrow begins the second week with a new teacher.  The second week is called "Musings on Paper" with Hope Wallace Karney. I've only done a small amount of art journaling in the past and enjoyed it so I am excited to see what she will be teaching. I'll be sure and let you see my work. Well... maybe I won't promise that just in case I don't do as well on it. I'm not as good with a pen as I am a gluestick. :)

Artful Pages

This is my first collage from my Artful Pages class. The first week of this class is about vintage gluebooks. In a gluebook you only use paper, scissors and glue and nothing extra like stamps or embellishments.

I've been wanting to make a collage with this photo of my mom but hadn't found the right papers but this time I was able to come up with the right combination of things and I like the way it turned out. I spent a couple hours tonight working on the next lesson but so far I haven't completely decided on a direction. Hopefully tomorrow I'll come up with something because the next lesson is Friday.     

More Collage Club

This time for my Collage Club I added some family photos. This first photo is my great grandmother, Ida. She is my father's grandmother. I printed it on my computer but the ink wants to peel off so the edges are a bit messy. I added some bling to her neck. I'm not sure if that is a necklace or trim on her dress but it screamed for bling so I drove to the craft store just to get that one little stone.

The lesson this time taught us how to make an interesting background using a combination of different papers and then covering them in different ways. Both pieces are basically the same. I used long strips of different papers and glued them down. They are both covered in gesso and I used acrylic paint on the second one and different stamps on both. The second picture is my beautiful mom on the right, along with her sister and her father. 

I am really enjoying this collage club!! I said I was going to sew again, didn't I?  I will....

 but first I need to go make another collage!